Life

Van Berkel Hopes History Repeats

Popular Port Macquarie triathlete Tim van Berkel is hoping that history will repeat for him at the Cairns Airport IRONMAN Cairns.

By Daniel Hoy

Last year Aussie Luke McKenzie broke a three-year brought to win at Cairns which led to a career-defining second place at the IRONMAN World Championship in Hawaii.

Van Berkel is in the midst of a similar drought, having last tasted Ironman glory at IRONMAN Western Australia in 2008.

He’s hoping a win at Sunday’s IRONMAN Cairns can provide a springboard to a big year and a strong performance at IRONMAN Hawaii in October. He comes into the race off the back of a victory at IRONMAN 70.3 Busselton, fourth placing at IRONMAN New Zealand and a win in a full distance race in Melbourne.

“I'm pretty hungry this year. I have been targeting this race all year,” van Berkel said.

“Ironman titles are hard to come by, but I did win at Busselton back in 2008. I’m hoping to win another one, it has been a while.”

He wants to go one better than last year when he finished runner-up to Mckenzie.

Standing in his way will be one of the sport’s most enduring athletes in New Zealand’s Cameron Brown.

A 10-time IRONMAN New Zealand Champion, Brown himself has been absent from the podium’s top spot since his 2011 win, the longest stretch in his career without an Ironman title.

By his own admission, 2013 was a year to forget.

“Last year was a complete right off and was one of my worst years in the sport. I ended up shortening my season and had seven weeks totally off in August. It did me a world of good and I came back mentally and physically fresher,” says Brown.

“I can’t wait until I race again and to get back into some warm weather, I love the bike ride up to Port Douglas, you can't beat that view.”

Brown and Berkel have already battled each other once this year, at IRONMAN New Zealand in March, exiting the water within seconds of each other, spending the next four plus hours together on the bike before Brown pulled away with an outstanding 2hr47min marathon to finish second..

“I'm looking forward to racing Brownie again. I wasn't anywhere near race fitness in New Zealand, I was there to earn points. I have some good form now but I still think he is going to be very hard to beat, the guy has Ironman racing dialled in,” says van Berkel.

Brown, 42, is not the only veteran of distinction in the field, with three-time standard distance world champion Peter Robertson 38 and Jason Shortis 43 on the start line.

There are some international challengers including Jarmo Hast (Finland), who was fourth in Ironman races in Sweden and Australia last year, and the 2012 IRONMAN Western Australia champion Jimmy Johnsen (Denmark).

BLATCHFORD HOT FAVOURITE

Australian-based British athlete Liz Blatchford is the hottest of favourites to defend her crown in the women’s race.

Blatchford made her successful debut t IRONMAN Cairns last year, and then went on to enjoy a superb season, finishing third on debut at the IRONMAN World Championship in Hawaii.

Along the way she also finished fourth at IRONMAN Mont-Tremblant, and took out IRONMAN 70.3 Busselton, while she finished runner-up at Putrajaya recently.

Main rivals who will be coming at her on the bike will be 2013 IRONMAN Australia champion and in-form Rebecca Hoschke and two-time IRONMAN winner Asa Lundstrom (Sweden).

“I know the abilities of Bek Hoschke and Asa Lundstom and think I will have a decent gap out of the swim to them. However I don’t know the other girls too well so I probably can’t really predict too much more,” says Blatchford.

“It could be a solo day for me but in racing anything can happen and you never quite know how you are going to perform.”

Before last year’s debut Blatchford had never even run a marathon, let alone completed a full Ironman. This year she’s back having three Ironman finishes under her belt.

“I have expectations of myself this year that I didn’t have last year but I also have the confidence from my past races that I can draw on.

“To me though, all three Ironman races that I have done were somewhat daunting. It’s a really long way no matter how many times you have done it, or how much training you’ have done.”

Blatchford said last year’s race in Cairns had been a steep learning curve about nutrition.

“I am a huge calorie burner and that nearly derailed me when I ran out of everything on the bike by 140 km. So I’ll be carrying more nutrition this year.”

Hoschke comes into the race with IRONMAN 70.3 runners-up in Busselton and Geelong while Lundstrom won the inaugural IRONMAN Lake Tahoe last year, one of four podiums over the distance in the last two years, The Swede will no doubt find the Cairns climes somewhat different to the rain and snow she encountered in winning at Tahoe.

There are some solid performers to challenge including Japan’s Keiko Tanaka, American Hillary Biscay and a group of strong Kiwis led by Melanie Burke, third at IRONMAN Australia earlier this month.